LHASA - An environment monitoring station is to be built in Shuanghu, the world's highest county in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, according to a researcher leading the project.

Yi Chaolu, with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua on Thursday that construction of the station at Soggarluma, which is 2.5 km from the county government, would begin "in the near future".

With an average elevation of 5,000 meters, Shuanghu County is located in the hinterland of Tibet and has a large area of glaciers and lakes, said Yi, adding that the station will collect information about weather, glaciers and pastures.

The researcher said similar monitoring stations had been built on mountain land on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, but its 800,000-square-kilometer hinterland lacks such facilities.

In addition, the station would benefit local husbandry, Yi said, as it can help research improving grass output and quality.